Balblair 2000 2nd Release
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£69.95
Balblair 2000 2nd Release is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Balblair whisky distillery (located in the...
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Spirit Caramel (E150A)
If you’d rather the complete list you can find it here, be warned it takes a while to load though!
Bunnahabhain 30 Year Old /2019 Kinship
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£615
Bunnahabhain 30 Year Old /2019 Kinship is a 30 year old single malt whisky from the Bunnahabhain whisky distillery (located...
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Crabbie 40 Year Old
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1350
Crabbie 40 Year Old is a 40 year old single malt whisky (located in the Speyside region). The best price...
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English Whisky Co. HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge Whisky English Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£75.95
English Whisky Co. HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge Whisky English Whisky is a single malt whisky from the St. George’s...
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Glen Moray 8 Year Old /1990s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£49.95
Glen Moray 8 Year Old /1990s is a 8 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Moray whisky distillery...
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Glenfiddich 8 Years Old /1960s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£1500
Glenfiddich 8 Years Old /1960s is a 8 year old single malt whisky from the Glenfiddich whisky distillery (located in...
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Glenturret 7 Year Old /1970s
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£425
Glenturret 7 Year Old /1970s is a 7 year old single malt whisky from the Glenturret whisky distillery (located in...
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Highland Park 16 Year Old Wings Of The Eagle
E150A Free
Our best price:
£93.7
Highland Park 16 Year Old Wings Of The Eagle is a 16 year old single malt whisky from the Highland...
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Laphroaig Cairdeas Cask Strength Quarter Cask (2017 Edition)
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£149.95
Laphroaig Cairdeas Cask Strength Quarter Cask (2017 Edition) is a 20 year old single malt whisky from the Laphroaig whisky...
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McGibbon’s Premium Reserve Blended Scotch Blended Whisky
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£
McGibbon’s Premium Reserve Blended Scotch Blended Whisky is a blended whisky. The best price currently available is from for only...
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Peat Elements of Islay Personalised Bottle
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£29.95
Peat Elements of Islay Personalised Bottle is a blended whisky (located in the Islay region). The best price currently available...
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Scots Bard
E150A Unknown
Our best price:
£24.95
Scots Bard is a blended whisky. The best price currently available is from The Whisky Exchange for only £24.95 we...
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| Whisky Bottle | Rating | Reviews | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arran Robert Burns Single Malt | 4.5 | 18 | £32.25 |
| Mackmyra Moment – Ledin | 0 | 0 | £110.83 |
| Ardbeg Kildalton /2014 | 0 | 0 | £299 |
| Old Charter Bourbon 7 Year Old /1970s | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Miltonduff 2009 9 Year Old Signatory | 0 | 0 | £ |
| Stork Club German Single Malts Whisky | 0 | 0 | £38.75 |
| Famous Grouse Bar Bottle | 0 | 0 | £123.1 |
| Jack Daniel’s Monogram /2004 Tennessee Whiskey | 5 | 34 | £625 |
| Glenturret 1977 34 Year Old Scotia Royale | 0 | 0 | £399 |
| Strathisla 1963 2011 Gordon & Macphail | 0 | 0 | £1200 |
| Deanston 18 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) | 0 | 0 | £88.95 |
| Peatside 5 Year Old 2011 – The Vatting (Murray McDavid) Blended Malt Whisky | 0 | 0 | £ |
What is E150A spirit caramel and why do I care?
E150A is a food colouring agent created by burning sugar, it’s permitted as a food colour world wide and can be used to colour whisky. It’s the same stuff that’s added to Coa Cola and Pepsi to give them their dark brown colour and it’s regularly added to a number of grain whiskies, blends and even single malts.
Why are whisky brands adding colour to their whisky?
Spirit caramel is added to whisky for two reasons; firstly to normalise the colour between different batches of whisky and in some cases to enhance the natural colour of the whisky. How much of each occurs is a rather complex question as no brand would readily admit to manipulation of their whisky to mislead consumers.
E150A use for normalisation:
Because blends, and even single malt whiskies, use a mix of different casks in order to try and replicate their signature whisky styles. As every cask is different blending purely to replicate flavour can lead to colour differences between batches. A Laphroaig 10 from 5 years ago might taste virtually identical to one produced today but may be much lighter, or much darker depending on the casks used. To avoid confusion among consumers distilleries many distilleries ‘normalise’ the difference through the addition of E150A.
E150A for enhancement:
At the other end of the spectrum is the role of enhancement and this is particularly prevelant among the lower priced supermarket blends. When whisky is first distilled it’s crystal clear and looks like water, or vodka. The golden or even brown colour is a result of interaction with the barrel it is stored in. For cheaper whiskies older barrels are used and these impart less colour, they often favour larger barrels as well which means less interaction with the liquid (as a smaller barrel offers more liquid to surface area). To avoid these bottles ending up on the shelf looking like off-colour vodka spirit caramelis added to ensure the anticipated golden brown is present. In other instances such as Dalmore
Does E150A change the flavour of whisky?
Yes, E150A does change the taste of a whisky. That is our decided opinion, while countless brand ambasadors will dispute this point, or denounce us and refuse to debate the point we’ve done the leg work and are firmly of the position that E150A does change the flavour of the whisky.
We’ve conducted blind and double blind taste tests using E150A from multiple suppliers, and even using minscule amounts the taste profile does shift slightly. Interestingly this change is not always detrimental and E150A seems on occasion to round out a whisky. In most cases the whiskies are identified as being different, in some the whisky with caramel is preferred, in others the whisky without. There’s no added sweetness (E150A is very bitter) but no obvious bitterness added to the whisky unless absurd amounts are used, so we’re not condemning anyone for the use of spirit caramel. That said in the interest of consumer fairness we feel that consumers should be able to find out what’s in their bottle.
How do we get our list of whiskies containing spirit caramel?
By law any whiskies containing E150A sold in Germany have to list it as an additive, on their websites this usually appears as ‘mit Farbstoff’ or ‘enthält Farbstoff’ both meaning the spirit contains dye. We’ve scraped a number of German whisky websites and matched their ‘EAN’ and bottles details against the bottles we pricecheck using multiple validations to confirm*.
*Ultimately this system is far from perfect, distilleries change their output and bottles that did contain spirit caramel may change their process. It’s also not completely inconceivable that a whisky could contain caramel for one market and not in another, however unlikely this might be. So until the distilleries are prepared to have a grown up conversation, we’ll do everything in our power to keep our DB up to date. Let us know via the contact form if you find any issues.